Let’s talk about writing a novel. Jim and I sat down to write Uncommon Scents three years ago. We thought we knew what that meant. We had a firm understanding that it would require a lot of words arranged sequentially. We knew words. We hoped that was enough. But then we remembered: punctuation! We stocked…
There are two secrets to becoming a bestselling author. (1) Be fiercely talented. (2) Release your first book no later than about 1990. Today? The odds are roughly zero that you will sell a lot of books if you’re working on your first book now. They’re not exactly zero. That’s an exaggeration. They’re just so…
At the end of Uncommon Scents, an unruly mob of conspiracy believers gathers in Boyd Park, a lovely city park near downtown San Rafael. We wrote a scene filled with the creativity and diversity that people might bring to the world if augmented reality becomes widely available. Our scene is packed with in-jokes, references to…
If you’re a writer, you know about Save The Cat, a technique for crafting plots for novels and screenplays. Here’s a glimpse at an inside secret for everyone else. Jim and I were novices when we sat down to write Uncommon Scents, a funny novel that you should read out loud to your children except…